On July 3rd the 20th Budapest Pride Festival will begin with the official opening ceremony! This year’s motto "Empowered by 20 years” allows us take a look back at the past two decades of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) tradtions, and refers to the power of the community, its (self) organization and presence, which can be the only way to achieve equal rights and social justice.

Each event of the 10-day long festival aims to show the diversity of the community, and we hope that out of the 60 events everyone will find some they can enjoy, whether they’re visiting the festival for the first time, or have been going for 20 years now.

The open-air opening ceremony of the cultural festival will be held next Friday at Holdudvar/Wonderland on Margaret Island. The event will be opened by director and actor, Róbert Alföldi, and futher speeches will be given by Stefánia Kapronczay, Krisztina D. Tóth, András Léderer and board president of the Rainbow Mission Foundation, Szilvia Nagy. Musical guests will include János Kulka, Bíborka Bocskor and Mátyás Dunajcsik. Host of the event will be actress, Andrea Fullajtás.

The first weekend of the festival is dedicated to sports and rainbow families. If you’re up for a challenge, you can visit the yoga class of Bertalan Sugár. Every day of the following week from July 6th offers exciting events. There will be screenings of Secret Years and Hot Men Cold Dictatorships. At our literary event András Gerevich and Anna T. Szabó will introduce their pieces to the audience. Visit our slam poetry night and make sure to enjoy the concerts of Margit Barna and András Petruska.

Staying true to our traditional events we’re organizing our Open Mic, lgbtQuiz and a dance class held by Charme Hungary. A whole new range of events will also be featured in this year’s festival: Fiúk Ketten (Boys Alone), an improv performance by Momentán, the exhibition of young contemporary artists called Self-interpretations, and the photo exhibition titled Queens of the Night by Viktória Fűrjes.

Workshops will be a significant part of this years repertoire. Topics will include the relationship of LGBTQ rights and politics, Roma LGBTQ identity, forms of alternative relationships, situation of the Hungarian trans community, activist burnout and the LGBTQ movement in the countryside.

4 parties will take place within these 10 days. The opening party well be held on Saturday, July 4th, then you can enjoy yourselves at the Women’s Pride and PreMarching !Tape on July 10th, and after the March on Saturday you can rock out to this year’s biggest LGBTQ party, the Rainbow party.

The peak of the festival will be the Budapest Pride March on Saturday, July 11th. The meeting point is atthe corner of Nagymező utca and Andrássy út at 3:30 pm. We can march together to Tabán, celebrating ourselves, diversity and self acceptance.

In order to be up-to-date regarding news and events follow our Facebook page and website. The program guide of the Festival will be available soon online and offline as well. See you next week!